


The Need to Save (DaveKat)

by Oli_Daugie



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Body Dysphoria, Bro is a huge asshole, Dave needs better people in his life, Dave was a huge dick, Depressed Karkat, Dirk Strider and Dave's Bro Aren't the Same Person, Dysphoria, Gender Dysphoria, Giant rollercoaster of emotions, Humanstuck, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, No he's not depressed anymore, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Sorry Not Sorry, Trans Dave Strider, Trans Male Character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-19
Updated: 2018-10-06
Packaged: 2019-05-25 06:38:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 11,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14971226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oli_Daugie/pseuds/Oli_Daugie
Summary: Karkat Vantas was visiting his father's grave one day after school. Dave was running from Bro. Running into each other might end up being the best thing or the worst thing that ever happened to them.





	1. You are Karkat Vantas

Karkat's POV: 

You’re just now waking up and realizing that is the stupidest way to assure yourself you are indeed still alive. For the most part, you don’t know if you still want to be. You are completely alone in this shithole of a home. Your mother died five years ago, and you don’t know what to do. You’ve at least told yourself that who she really is has died.  
You get dressed begrudgingly, slipping on a dark colored shirt and grey jeans to try and fit your mood. You check the sleeves and tell yourself that they’re long enough. Checking the time, it’s four in the morning. You still have several hours until you have to go to school. Two and a half if you want to be specific.  
Of course you are, you’re always specific. You always tell people exactly what they need to do, and you never let anyone tell you otherwise. You decide it’d be a good idea to calm down and stop thinking about what you do and know for a fact that you can never grow the spine to even try.  
Finally walking out into the living room towards the open kitchen, you get what you call breakfast ready. That would be boiled down to a simple cup of hot chocolate, since apparently, coffee gives you a raging headache.  
By the time you are finishing reading a chapter of your latest dumb romcom, it’s time for you to leave. You grab your bag and stop by your mother’s room. You grab her hand and hold it for a minute, smiling to yourself that she didn’t wake up. You let go and walk out the front door, not anticipating the day to come.  
________ The end of school: 3:00 ________  
You’re for sure glad that it’s Friday. You’re also happy as fuck that a trip is coming up where the juniors and seniors get to go to a cabin campsite for two weeks. There are plenty of activities you can do, however, you never do anything since it’s all optional.  
You made the decision to go to the graveyard on your way home, the forest is nearby as well. The forest was your second option.  
You walk up to the grave reading it carefully, “’Jared Vantas: Beloved Husband and Father.’ My apologies, but that’s bullshit. Mom still has it out for me even with a terminal illness. I am really looking forward to the day she’s gone so-” You hear someone scream from inside the woods, and fast approaching footsteps.  
What the hell should you do.  
Before you know it there’s a loud crash in a mausoleum not too far away. You make sure to pay attention to the loud groaning and complaining. Telling yourself you are an utter idiot for doing this, you go searching for the source of the noise. Low and behold, it’s got a lot of blood going into the damn thing.  
You go inside, leaving it ajar incase you need to get out fast. It’s too dark for you to see anything properly, but you can hear heavy breathing from the corner and stupidly walk towards it.  
“Hello?” You say it like an idiot. You know you did. Whoever is here knows you did. You, you realize, are a complete idiot.  
“What the f- what the hell are you doing here Karkat Vantas?” The words come out in between deep breaths. You recognize the voice from somewhere, deciding it must be a classmate you know.  
Finally grabbing your phone to turn on the flash light, you speak, “Yeah, and who the hell are you?”  
“God dammit. You’re the last person I wanted to see, Vantas.” It was Dave fucking Strider. He was right here in front of you, and he was bleeding out all over the mausoleum floor. You take note of how much horrifyingly shittier this day could possibly get.  
“Okay then, Dave fucking strider, let’s get you to safety. I’m calling an ambulance,” He seems horrified at the mention of an ambulance. You recognize it in your own way, like he’s hiding just as much as you think he is.  
He tries his best to get up, “No, no way, absolutely not. I am not getting in an ambulance,” He fails at even getting an inch off the ground, and you kneel down next to him debating whether or not you should actually hit the call button.  
“Tell me what the fuck happened and maybe I won’t,” You swear to yourself that you didn’t say that in an extremely caring manner. You try not to sound interested or worried, but fuck it, you are, no one is going to stop you from asking why this asshole is on the floor of a grave bleeding out.  
“well… um,” you watch as he stumbles over his words, not knowing if you should feel concerned, “My brother can get a little intense sometimes,” He blurts it out in a moment of desperation. With out even trying, you remember the last time you and your mom fought, “I can’t exactly do anything… don’t tell anyone, please. Don’t call the ambulance.” His voice so much different than at school. It’s more high pitch and full of fear.  
His face is starting to get rather pale and you remember that he’s bleeding out, “Why here of all places,” you decidedly mumble under your breath, not caring if he heard you. You find that you still have a few needed supplies in your backpack, always incase of emergency. You find what you need, you tell yourself that you are actually kind of glad you’ve had practice.  
“Dude why the fuck do you-“ You cut him off.  
“First of all, it’s for emergency’s,” You roll your sleeves up, ignoring that he can see your arms, “and secondly, I’ve had to do this once or twice.”  
“What the actual hell?” He manages to squeak out before you put a clean sock in his mouth. You tell yourself that maybe he’s not going to leave you alone after this. You tell yourself that is the last thing you want and then admit it’s a lie. Maybe you’re a little interested in his story, but that’s it.  
You pull up his shirt halfway and he doesn’t fight it at all. You ignore the strange un-dershirt he’s wearing, while taking note of the texture, and grab the rubbing alcohol, pour-ing it into the wound. It’s a bit deeper than you expected. But you don’t just notice how deep it is. You notice the other scars around it, some are words carved into his skin that you can’t read, at least not in this lighting. Some are barely legible, the ones that are appearing to be terrible slurs.  
“So, this has happened before… ?” you turn your eyes to look at his face, it’s scrunched up and his eyes look red. He’s been crying, you didn’t even notice. He shakes his head up and down, it was very slow. “Look, if this happens again, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, you can come to me.”  
“I know, I know. This part is gonna hurt a lot more, brace yourself,” you say it as endearing as you can, you’re a little drained. Preparing the needle and edges of the cut were plenty easy. Now, you had to actually stitch it.  
You had use about twenty or so stitches to close it up. Dave had passed out half way through, you think it’s from exhaustion. This time you try to pay closer attention to him, the way he looks. Seeing his hips, you see the dip is very different from a typical guy. That got you rather curious about the rest of him. You seriously need to shove that thought out of your head, it’s his privacy you’d be invading. You pull his shirt down and shake the tired Dave awake.  
“What the- oh right,” He started, “I got to get home,” He finishes really unsure of himself. His hands shake a little and you grab them, trying your best to steady them.  
“I could just let you crash at my place. There’s only two rooms, so I can just sleep on the couch,” You look at him, really look at him. Without his dumb sunglasses you can see every emotion going through him.  
“Are you sure? I-I don’t want to be a bother…” You shut him up by pulling him off of the floor.  
“Don’t worry about it. Most of the night it’ll just be you and me. I suggest avoiding the other room though, my mom probably wouldn’t be so kind,” He looks at you briefly. Then at the ground. You grab his left hand and swing it over your shoulder, so he can support himself better, “You’re gonna have to borrow something, that shirt is totaled,” For the first time, you hear a stifled but honest laugh, it kind of makes you smile.  
“I guess it is,” You can feel his eyes on you as you leave the place, “Thank you for this.”  
You noticeably shrug and start off toward your apartment. Thanking that he’s pretty light for a guy this size, you still think it is only gonna take twenty minutes to get home. The entire way there is silent. You thank god for that.


	2. You are now Dave Strider

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dave Strider is processing where he is and trying to avoid an inevitable reveal. He wishes he knew what Karkat was thinking. It makes him all the more nervous and he doesn't know what to do about his internalized emotions.

Dave's POV: 

Of course you’re Dave, you’re always Dave. You’ve never been anyone else but Dave. And you, Dave Strider, are sitting in the room of someone who has no idea you used to bully the shit out of him because of your own insecurities. You pray to god it’s because he doesn’t even recognize you. You’ve changed so much, you think you have, you at least hope you’ve changed.  
“Hey, earth to Strider,” You look up at Karkat, seeing that he’s holding out a short-sleeved shirt and shorts for you, “Geeze, I know, it’s not much but at least try it on. It’s the closest thing I’ve got to your size.”  
You kind of nod at him, “Oh, uh, sorry. I spaced out,” You try to make your voice lower. It’s not going very well, you should probably give up. “Can I have a little privacy or something?” He seems less shocked than John when you asked that the first time you were over. That was a shit show in and of itself. You do remember John mentioning Karkat a few times, you hope it’s not the reason you think it is.  
“Whatever, I’ll be in the kitchen,” He grumbles on his way to the door and stops, you, however, take note of his change of clothes. You see his grey tank top, littered with various space symbols in gold, looking at his black jogging shorts with white stripes down the sides. You also look at his bear arms. He’s got a lot of white lines all over them. Not to mention he’s actually pretty muscular. You also, for no reason, look at his ass. It’s pretty okay to you, not that you care. You’re not gay.  
“So… when I’m done do I get any explanations?” You let it out almost paying zero attention to his face. Fuck it, you’re paying all the attention to his face. It’s a pretty nice face if you do say so yourself. But again, you are so not gay.  
“Maybe, first I need to get dinner ready,” You take a moment to take that in, this guy fucking cooks instead of his mom? “Before you ask, it’s not that great. Beats microwave dinners though.”  
“Well shit. Anyway, get out, I’m changing” You look at him briefly before he finally exits. The door was still left ajar, but you don’t care too much. You only care a little if he walks in. You do care majorly that you’ve been binding for far too long, and now your ribs are hurting. You decidedly start with the shorts, Though. These are way too small for Karkat, he pretty much towers over you now. Thankfully, they are about the same size as the ones at home, which means you need a belt. Thank god you have one holding up your jeans.  
You finally manage to slide your jeans off, noticing in the scramble to get out of the house this morning you are wearing the repulsive pair of pink panties. God you hate life. After sitting on the bed for an uncomfortable amount of time, you get your shorts on. Next up, shirt.  
Pulling off your binder is the last thing you want to do. You just don’t want to risk getting broken ribs right now. You grab the hem and pull. It’s a little stuck to your side. Fuck. It’s really stuck, it doesn’t want to budge at all. You accidentally pull too hard and the darn thing starts to pool blood. The last thing you want to do is tell Karkat fucking Vantas you need more help. You decide you should ask for help rather than risk further injury. You know better.  
“Hey, Karkat,” You shout just a little, “I could use some help,” He gets to the door and starts pushing it open. Before he’s all the way in the room, you pull your binder back down, you hope he takes note of the small spot of blood forming on your binder.  
“What do need?” He looks like he’s trying to assess the situation.  
“I can’t get it off.” You say slowly.  
“Your undershirt thing?” He pauses, deciding if he wants to ask, “I-I guess.”  
“I just, it’s sticking to the one side.” You want this to be over now, “Just do it from behind, it’s easier for me that way.” Before you can say anything else he’s right next to you.  
“If you say so. Turn around then, I’ll make sure nothings caught,” You do what he says and spin a one eighty. You really don’t want him to find out. Not like this.  
“Hey, Dave…” His voice trails off as he carefully lifts it, “What is this thing for anyway? It’s not like any other undershirt I’ve ever come across.”  
“It’s um,” He’s getting closer to revealing your chest, “I don’t know if I should tell you...”  
“You know,” He begins kind of uncertain, “you’re a weird guy. It’s probably not going to change how I see you,” You are five seconds from just giving up and tearing it off. You care hell of a lot if he of all people sees you. You know you’re going to say the exact opposite of what you believe. You know you will, because when it comes to school and classmates, that’s what you do.  
“Why are you being so gentle? Just hurry up. I need to get this off,” You run through the words, “Just get it over with I don’t know why I care at all,” you turn around and avoid looking at his face.  
“You absolutely sure?” You see him searching your face for something out of the corner of your eye. You are far from ready to tell him.  
“Do it before I change my mind asshole.” He grabs the hem of your binder carefully once more. As he’s pulling it up, he rubs his hand gently between the stitches. It stings a little not too bad. It hurt more at the bottom of the stitches, where it opened up.  
Karkat Vantas is kind of taking off your binder. You are totally not screaming internally. Except you are. You are screaming so loud on the inside you swear it might as well be happening out loud. Most of it is denying that you’re gay and or you not knowing if you are kind of enjoying this.  
“You can take off the rest of it easier now, I hope,” His concern is still evident, but a hid-den well enough you almost don’t notice. It almost makes you concerned for whatever reason.  
“It’s gotten this far; besides I’ll probably get stuck once it’s at my shoulders. Why the fuck not tell you, or rather show you, this Strider secret,” He seems hesitant. You take note of it. You almost didn’t say anything at all.  
“I guess. If you think so,” He continues pulling up again. I start to feel the air wrap around my chest as the binder disappears. “Well, this is something.” He sees you, and you quickly react by putting your arms around your upper body. You swear he might as well been laughing the entire time.  
“What, you gonna laugh now?” You say it the way you would when you asked if someone was going to cry.  
“why would I do that?” He sputters and turns around swiftly, moving to the other side of the room.  
You sigh, turning around and reaching in your bag. Finding what you’re looking for, you slip it on as fast as possible. Same thing happens to the shirt. It happens to be Karkat sized, which means it about six sizes way too big.  
“So this means that…” He leaves the sentence for me to finish.  
“Now’s not the time.” I took the easy way out and shut it down instead.  
“It explains somethings. Not everything.” He breathes in very deeply. “Let’s just… go eat.” And so you follow him out. He’s saying a bunch of random sentences under his breath. Some are about school, others mentioning his mom. The one that grabs your attention the most is the mention of going back to the hospital. That is a worrying sentence. Especially for you. You never want to go to the hospital, not ever. You’ve never had too. You reach the kitchen in near silence. The only sounds was the steps on the floor and Karkat’s muttering.  
You are trying to get over the fact that this guy has made you a fucking bomb ass thing of shepherd’s pie. It might be a bit too much for you, the amount on your plate that is, but you don’t care. This guy who hardly knows anything about you anymore, has made you the best looking meal ever.  
“I’m still trying to process this. This is way more than I ever get,” His eyes go a little wide. Not in a shocked way or a scared way, you can’t quite put a name on the feeling. It’s kind of strange to you.  
“Well, you got a lot to eat right now, so dig in.” He sounds kind of shy, the way he spoke. Then I look at him for one second and he’s shoving all the food he can right into his mouth.  
“You have quite the appetite,” You state your thoughts out loud. Eating at what you think is a normal pace. You eat a lot slower normally.  
“What can I say, I had to take you to my house. Plus I go to the gym tomorrow, so I need energy, I’m also hungry in general I guess. Missed breakfast.” He shrugged at the end of the sentence. You decide that maybe he still hasn’t picked up on who you were.  
“Huh, that’s cool. Going to the Gym, I mean. Not missing breakfast,” you swallow hard.  
“Sure. Happened all the time when I was younger. Some kids, god I hated them, used to just steal my food right after I got it. Never did anything about it,” He spoke in between shoveling food into his mouth, “I once heard, this girl that used to do the worst of it, ended up having these really bad insecurities. But, by the time I heard about it, I stopped hating all of them. Two of which are actually my friends,” He finished and looked up at you, “But maybe I can bump it up to three, who knows.” You just stare at him. Questions start screaming at you.  
Has he known the whole time? Is that it? Are you really so stupid that you missed something? Did you do this, did you do that? Everything is raining down on you. You have no clue what words to even say. You end up scooting back in your chair.  
“Anyways, I’m gonna clean up,” He gets out of his chair, “if you’re finished I’ll just take that.” He looks at your plate then at him, deciding what to say. You only had about half of what he gave you.  
“Could you maybe put my leftovers in the fridge or something,” You mumble very clearly. It’s very strange for you to do so. Both of them really, mumble and speak clearly. You’ve gotten out of the habit of mumbling, especially because of- you decide to shut that thought all the way down. You aren’t doing this. Not now.  
“Yeah I can do that, by the way- woah Dave,” I just looked at the table in front of me. I just looked down and then I felt my eyes get glassy. I haven’t had my shades since I ran off. I’m panicking, I’m losing it and he’s watching what am I supposed to do? How do I calm down? The only thing I can think of doing is grabbing my knees and hugging them as tight as I can.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So basically I'm switching between Dave and Karkat's point of view. I probably wouldn't have posted this so soon if my friends didn't manage to tell me I need to write more.  
> I really appreciate you guys taking the time to read this, though. It means so much that people enjoy my work.


	3. "A fantastic Idea" - Karkat Vantas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karkat is gathering up clues as to somethings Dave has said. Dave is being dodgy toward other subjects, specifically about Bro, but Karkat hasn't noticed. He probably will eventually, Dave kind of hopes so, but you're not supposed to know that.
> 
> Karkat stops doing his homework for a solid five minutes and finds an upset Dave on the floor near his bed.
> 
> Oh the joy.

Karkat's POV: 

You have no idea what just happened. You just fed one Dave Strider after saving his ass, and now, he’s flipping out in your kitchen. You probably shouldn’t say that. No, you definitely shouldn’t say that. To be more accurate he’s been staring at the table for a lengthy period of time and he’s kind of crying? You have no idea. He started hugging his knees close to his chest the way you would when you were terrified of something.  
Maybe because you found out why he never smiles at school (you are mostly just guessing why) or he seems to avoid people who are extremely loud when they aren’t trying to be. Maybe because he just showed you the top half of his body and was terrified after, likely hiding it in his reaction the best he could. You were way less concerned about his chest, you were concerned about him. You wanted to know how long he’s been going through this shit. No one deserves to go through that, not even him.  
“Karkat,” He stumbles over both K’s.  
“What is it Dave?” You walk over to the chair, trying not to be too close.  
“Who do you think I used to be?” You stop. You can’t think of him being anyone other than himself. That’s how he always was right? Snarky, but still good. You’ve at least known about him for three years now. Since freshman year started. He always made an effort to seem cooler than he really was.  
“Dave what are you talking about?” You say blandly. He is nothing like them. How could he be? He bares the resemblance to only one of them. As far as you know, she’s long gone. You only wonder if she really regrets everything.  
“Y-you, you’ve known me,” He seems like he’s trying to stop himself from saying something, “for a lot longer than you think,” He stifles between words. His breath is shaking and struggling. It’s like he’s coming to terms and simultaneously rejecting himself. It’s like he doesn’t even know if he’s okay.  
You ended up walking back into the kitchen to give him space. You decided to work on the dishes while doing what you can to possibly help. You’ve done this a few times. Eventually his breathing becomes harsh, sounding what you would refer to as a tidal wave that crashed into a sea side city. You think it’s time to do something a little more.  
“Dave-“ You feel the constant need to interrupt. You’ve been trying to get his attention since he’s finally broke down. Though you realized what was happening. He’s not done telling you his story, and you’re okay with that. Right now, you’re not okay that he’s having a very clear and bad panic attack in your kitchen. “Dave come on, I don’t really care about that right now.”  
He looks at you when you stand him up. He looks right at you and you feel like you’re staring into a giant ocean of unresolved emotions. A large red ocean. You feel almost like you could drown in every story he has to tell. That can wait. Right now, you need to dry his tears and help him. You pull him closer, hugging him with everything you have. You tell yourself that this is real. You tell him that he is real, everything happening right now is real.  
“Dave. You’re okay. You’re going to be. I’m right here. I’m not leaving.”  
“Y-you sh-shouldn’t say t-that,” his voice is all over the place. You really are connecting way too many dots way too late. His voice isn’t low at all, it’s high pitched and feminine, sweet and gentle, while at the same time, very broken.  
“Who you were doesn’t matter, it’s who you are now,” You rub his back, as gently as possible. Comforting people has never been your best suit and you sincerely hope you aren’t fucking up.  
“How are you so sure?” He chokes it all out. You wish you were. You say nothing as you move one of your hands up to his face. You do your best to wipe the tears away, as if you’ve done it a million times.  
“I’m never sure of anything. Come on you need sleep.” You let go completely and lead him back to your bedroom. You decide he’s staying here for the weekend. John is definitely coming over tomorrow. You know he can help a lot more than you can.  
________ Late night at about 11:30 pm ________  
You’ve been doing your homework since you finally got him to sleep. It’s been about two hours since then. Dave Strider is more of a mystery than you thought. You don’t know if you like it or hate it. You do want to know more about how this affects him  
Before today you thought you had everything figured out. You saw him as a typical white boy with a rich family that was spoiled. You saw this straight cis guy and nothing else. Today, you realized that was utter bullshit.  
This guy sleeping behind you has an abusive guardian, is trans, and severely fucked up. You’ve spent the time doing your homework to get your mind off it all. It obviously hasn’t really worked for you. You tend to have things on your mind until you finally figure out why it’s bugging you. You for sure haven’t figured out why this does quite yet.  
You do know what abuse is like, when you were young it was physical. As you got older it turned into mental abuse. Now, It’s almost over. Your mom, the only family you have left, is dying. She’s all that remains of it. Your father tried to keep her from hurting you but ended up making it harder for the both of you. You could easily say you got hurt from falling and it would work. Surprisingly at that, you did tend to have some cuts on your head and bruises.  
None of that compares to what you see on Dave. Now that he’s not in the dark mausoleum, you can see all the marks clearer. Bruises in the shape of hands were going up his arms, smaller cuts all across his arms and calves, he had a black eye and it looked like he had another word carved above his collar bone. You wonder how he’s gone through this all these years. You wonder why he had to go through this.  
Your thoughts are stopped when you realize you need to use the bathroom. You walk down the hall past your bedroom. You thought you heard something in your mom’s room and realize it’s nothing. When what your original use of the bathroom is over, you almost slam your hands down on the sink. You splash water on your face and rush to get back to work, it’s not going to finish itself.  
Sniffling could be heard when you started down the hall. You stop when you pass your door, “Dave?” You question him as quietly as possible. You debate for a hot minute whether you should open the door or not. You end up on the former.  
You eventually open the door and see that Dave isn’t in the bed. You still hear all sorts of sniffling and deep breaths. Searching around for the light, you try to figure out what you should say. When you get the light on, you see that Dave is hiding on the floor at the end of the bed. His face is red, and is buried in his phone. He’s scrolling through old pictures, you think.  
“Dave?” You ask again, and he looks at you. You don’t even think he saw you enter the room. He throws his phone across the room, toward the closet. Farther away from you.  
“Karkat, I’m fine,” He looks down at the ground and hides his face in his arms. He is way too persistent. Especially when it comes to his feelings.  
“You’re obviously not. Want to talk about it?” You sit down next to him, hugging your knees, “I could always tell you more about me.”  
“I don’t want to talk, yet,” his voice is muffled under his arms. “I want to know more about you first, I guess,” His head lifts again and he rests his chin on his arms.  
“What do you want to know?” You speak lightly.  
“What’s wrong with your mom?”  
“She’s a bitch and getting what she deserves,” you lightly put it.  
“What exactly is that?”  
“What she deserves?” I see him nod. “She’s got cancer, it’s terminal. Makes up for all the bullshit she did to me and my dad.”  
“And that would be?” I shake myself a little, reminding that none of that is happening anymore.  
“She was a drug addict. Numb to everything. I doubt she even knew she was hurting me or him.” That was a lie, and you know it.  
“oh.” He paused for a while. “How did you know how to stitch me up?” You don’t like the story, but it’s easier to talk about. Even when you’re not lying through your teeth.  
“which version do you want? Honest truth or the one my friends know.”  
“Truth.” He skipped no beats.  
“Okay then,” you start to imagine that day, “My mom was being the stupidest she had ever been. She was driving me and my dad down to the hospital to visit my brother. He was getting out soon and we wanted to visit before he...” You don’t want to finish that thought, “She had, out of literally nowhere, just yelled at my dad. She blamed him for her actions. Having me and my brother, her addictions, all of it. My dad was the kindest person I ever knew. That day killed him, she went off the road and into a tree on his side of the car. I was basically shredded around my torso. My back had the worst of it.” You stop for a minute and breath in.  
“I told the people taking care of me I wanted to know how to make stitches, so I could help people if I needed to right away. They obliged and showed me, using one of the cuts around my torso.” I stopped and looked at him, “Kind of happy I did. Neither of us would be here right now if it weren’t for that.”  
“What? You mean why you’ve ‘had practice’?” You nodded, sighing in reminiscent memories.  
“I’ll tell you right now that both of those times were actually a few years ago, four years ago and then two years ago.”  
“When did he die? You don’t have to answer, I just, curious.” Stumbled through the sentence like toddler walking for the first time.  
“It’s alright. It’s been seven years as of tomorrow.” He relaxes at that, sitting with his legs crossed instead of close to his chest.  
“That’s around the same time my brother Dirk started fighting with bro more.” He looks down at his phone.  
“Give me a sec,” I got up and grabbed his phone and some old photographs stored away, “I guess I could show you what he looked like.”  
“Pft, I’ll show you my brother then.” He said as you handed him his pone back. His voice lighter than it had when you came into the room.  
You went through the pictures, searching for your favorites. He seems to have found a few, you think, that he’d proudly show you. You’re pretty curious about him, knowing how he’s actually a pretty damn strong person.  
“You ready?” He looks at you, half smiling.  
“Yeah, pretty ready if I say so.” You think this is probably one of your better ideas tonight, a fantastic idea, if you will.  
“You or me first?” He turned back to his phone, zooming in on the image.  
“I can go first,” You shrugged and went to show the first one.  
The picture shows you and two other males in a hospital. In the foreground, you’re smiling and holding up a present. In the bed is your brother, Kankri, he’s holding his hand up in a peace sign. He looks a lot like you, just a bit older and more like your mother. Your father is sitting in the chair, his left hand on your brother’s shoulder. You and your dad look more alike. Especially since you and he share the red hair trait.  
“Wow I’d never thought I see you with red hair,” You snort at his comment and fight the smile tugging at your lips.  
“You should see my roots then, they’re red as hell the farther you get from my part,” he laughs so honestly. You could swear you felt your heart melt at that.  
“Oh god, now I actually want you to go back to being a red head!” His smile could light up the room like it lights up your heart, “Anyways, you guys looked happy. Your brother looks happy for someone in the hospital.”  
“Yeah,” you put the photo in your lap, “He was always like that, even ‘til the end.” You worked to hide the frown tugging at the corners of your mouth. You made Dave happy even though he was upset, and you don’t want to ruin that.  
“I’m sorry man. It must have been nice to have a real family for a while,” He put his arm around your shoulder to comfort you. You turned your head and smiled lightly.  
“I can’t even blame a disease on it, and it sucks. Most of the pictures we have with him are in his teenage years. I was ten there, he was fifteen. His last birthday. I miss him so much, he was the best.”  
“What made the frequent visits to the hospital, if you don’t mind me asking Karkles.” He asked, bringing his arm back to cross both of his against his chest. If the conversation you were having right now wasn’t depressing, you would have smiled at his dumb nickname.  
“He… god, he was like me in that case, I guess. He killed himself. I only ever blamed mom.” He’s taking it in. He basically just learned you’re suicidal, who knows how that’s going to soak in.  
“Damn, that’s… that’s terrible. So it’s been about seven years now. I don’t know what to do to help.”  
You shrugged and wrapped your arm around his shoulders, “I’m better now. Have been for about two years, which is nice.” You looked at his phone in his lap, “So what are your favorite pictures of your brother?”  
He looked up, snatching his phone fast, “Oh man you would have loved him, he’s so dumb.” You laugh pretty hard at that for a few moments. He just has this huge smile that plastered over his face while pulling up the photos.  
Dave shows you a picture of three people. There’s a kid with shoulder length hair, wearing the same dumb sunglasses Dave wears every day at school, sitting on a bed in the background holding up an under-shirt, similar to the one Dave needed help taking off earlier. You assume that is the devil himself. Through the open door you can see a man in a white hat doing something at the T.V. Next to the Dave look-a-like is a taller boy.  
“Is spikey hair over there your brother?” You point at the tall boy.  
“Yeah that’s him, Dirk was real great. He played games with my Bro when we were younger. The next chance I get, I’m gonna go see him in Washington.”  
“Why’s he live down there?” You ask then answer it yourself, “Never mind, your Bro is a big enough reason.”  
“Yeah, when he was eighteen, like four years ago, he was kicked out. Dirk lives with his boyfriends now.” Dave smiles at the picture, like there’s a memory he’s hiding. He’s probably met them you reason out.  
“Boyfriends? Like more than one?” You’ve heard of polyamorous relationships, but you’ve never really known of any.  
“Yeah man. He found that having two partners was a little more comforting than one. Dude, you wouldn’t believe how functional they are.” You aren’t gonna lie, you love hearing him talk.  
“That’s actually pretty cool. I’d like to meet him one day.” You pulled your arm back and put it in your lap, intertwining your fingers.  
“For sure. You could join me when I head down.”  
“Sounds like fun. Road trip?”  
“Road trip.”  
You sat up a little higher. Thinking about how Dave looked in that picture. It was the same length as the time you last saw that “girl”. You think you know what happened now. You actually like that this is how things turned out, you definitely will ask at some point.  
“So that’s you?” You said pointing to the image.  
“Yeah, that’s me” His shoulders relaxed.  
“Man that’s got to suck. So you got it from your brother?”  
“Yeah, I did, my eleventh birthday. It’s called a binder by the way.” He rubbed his neck, almost nervously.  
“Cool, cool. I’m happy that I know these things, so you know.”  
“Eh, I guess it could’ve been worse? I have no idea.”  
“Yeah. Want to go be comfortable on the bed?” You suggested and stood up. You put your hand out for him to grab.  
He hesitated, “yeah, that sounds like a plan.” He reached out and grabbed your hand. They were calloused pretty bad, you wonder how that happened. You admit you kind of don’t want to know, but you’d rather know if anything happens. This was, admittedly, a fucking fantastic Idea, you think to yourself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ayyyye I'm back at it again. I hope the nice sweet parts are enjoyed, there's more to come in the next chapter, I can promise that. I want to hint at it but I just can't D: I hope y'all enjoyed!!! 
> 
> I know I'm having fun writing all these fluffy parts ;)


	4. A Strange Conversation, Dysphoria, and Sleep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dave is going through some really thought about life problems in between the lines, and Karkat is kind of doing his best to take note of them. Dave isn't paying to much attention to Karkat when some of his small spikes of dysphoric pain come in, but every other time, he is watching Karkat intently. He trusts Karkat a lot more now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry if this one was a little shorter :( I think it helps with kind of moving into the next chapter.

Dave's POV: 

                You are laying in Karkat Vantas’ bed. He’s right next to you and you don’t know if you should be freaking out right now. You and John always slept in the living room on the couches, so laying in the same bed as someone,  is something you find very weird. You don’t know if you should say anything. You probably should, but you end up just kind of not saying anything.

                “So” You somehow manage to speak. It’s kind of caught in your throat, the rest of the words you want to say.

                “So” He says back, turning to be on his side so that he can face you. You can see how much larger he is than you just by looking at his shoulders. You suddenly became aware of how small and possibly weak you are.

                “I have no idea what to think right now.” You shrugged the best you could. You looked into his brown eyes, they looked kind of orange and red. You thought to yourself that they were really beautiful.

                “You can think whatever. Is this not a thing that you’re used to or something?” You feel like he’s watching you closely. You also have to stop thinking somethings. Denial isn’t getting you anywhere.

                “I, I mean, not really. Huh,” You turn onto your back, “I’ve had a lot of things kind of jammed into my head. It’s really messed me up I guess.” You feel the weight in the bed shift. As well as this really warm feeling crawl through you. It wasn’t anything like being embarrassed. It was more like you felt that this was comforting, in some weird way.

                “Dude, I know the feeling.” He stopped for a minute. Your thoughts went back to how his arms were so scarred. “I always thought, because of my mom, that is was a terrible thing for me to be not okay. For the longest time I hid from everyone, maybe even myself.” He went quiet for a while.

                “My Bro makes me feel terrible for everything. My grades, the way I look, the people I like.” You took a moment and regathered your thoughts. You don’t know how you managed to let that out.

                “Is that why things like this happen?” You hear his voice leave in a shaky manner. What the fuck is he doing getting all emotional about it. If anything you should be. Never mind, you were actually really emotional about it. You just kind of convinced yourself for about ten minutes you weren’t.

                “I have no idea. Sometimes?” You shift so that your back is on the wall. It’s all for the purpose of seeing yourself. “Other times it’s because I was being a moody teen or some shit. I don’t know.” You kind of want to mention something about the types of people you like. It would make more sense as to some of the stuff you sort of tease him about nowadays.

                “You’re free to stay here if you need to.” You turn to see he’s looking at you, “My door is open for you, at least it is now.” You manage to smile. It’s weird for you since he’s gotten it out of you. Though, you think he also makes you generally happy, considering he pretty much saved your life.

                “Oh come on, I’m super shitty because of Bro. I’d be a terrible roommate.” You are kind of laughing at the thought of you being his roommate. You know you’d be absolutely terrible at it. He’s laughing too though, and you find that he’s a lot brighter in private than when surrounded by others. You are really happy you’re able to see him like this.

                “I doubt that. We might fight occasionally but who doesn’t. I’m sure once we got to know each other more it wouldn’t happen.” You almost feel like he’s looking through you. There’s not exactly one feeling you have to react. You might just have to agree with him on this.

                “Maybe I’ll think about it.” Your head turns back to looking down at yourself. The sudden pain of being in the body you are comes back. “You’ll have to figure out how to put up with the massive amounts of random sadness I have.”

                “Eh, I get plenty of ‘random sadness’ so.” Out of the corner of your eye, you see Karkat Vantas fucking smile. God you keep telling yourself that you aren’t gay, but you might as well be. This guy fucken brings out those thoughts like only a few people have. You have no idea what to do about those thoughts, you’ve just kind of ignored them.

                “So, when it comes to your random sadness, what causes it?” You don’t know if it’s insensitive of you to say, you hope it’s not.

                “I hardly know. If anything the things that come along with it don’t help. For the longest time it was because of my mom, then Dad, then Kankri. Now, I don’t really know what it is.” He frowns, and his eyebrows do that thing that they do when someone’s crying or upset.

                “It’ll be alright.” You think you should get off that topic. “How much longer do you think you got to deal with your mom?” You nudge the fuck out of anything else you’re thinking.

                “Well, last month the doctor said three months, a weeks ago he said a month, so I’m hoping it’s actually a few weeks or something.” The bed shifted again, and he was sitting up, body facing you. “I don’t actually want her gone, but I do think it’ll be easier without her nagging. That’s pretty much all she does anymore.”

                You wish Bro would be like that. It would have been easier for you and Dirk. If he had stopped all of his bullshit at some point or never even did it, maybe you would have been closer to Karkat by now. You noticed he’s relaxed a lot more. You’ve managed to just fuck it and sink back down on the bed. You kind of curled up, but in a comfortable enough way.

                You and Karkat talked for a long ass time after that. You didn’t even realize that exhaustion had been tugging at your eyelids until you finally fell asleep. It had been a long day, and you were hardly processing it. You dreamt of what you imagined it would be like living with him. You think you fell asleep smiling, you have no idea exactly. You’re quite sure you fell asleep first, but that doesn’t matter all that much. You think you can trust him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OH MY GOD. I pretty much am excited for the next chapter! There's some cute parts and a pretty flustered Karkat. John also starts to play more of an important role in the next two or three chapters. He helps Dave in ways Karkat doesn't know how to yet. 
> 
> Outside of all the hints I'm giving, I really love reading all your comments! They make me smile to know that you enjoy them. As well as let me know things you'd like to see. I am very much paying attention! Let me know if you have anything you personally think would fit well in this story.  
> Also! I have another story in the prompt phase. I probably will work on it on the side, but I might end up posting it anyway.


	5. Oh Gog No

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Conversations with John, Karkat looking where he shouldn't, and also Karkat getting flustered over how Dave acts in the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a little shorter than I would have liked, but the pester logs made it hard for me to edit so I gave up a little after trying to do that forever. ;-;

Karkat's POV: 

                You woke up at ten forty-five with Dave laying next to you. He was turned toward to the door, facing opposite of you. You made the choice to sit up and shoot John a text, might as well do it before Dave wakes up. John’s probably gonna kill you if he went to Dave’s house and found that he wasn’t  there. You don’t know if you should tell John what happened, mostly because you don’t know if Dave told him what’s going on at home.

                Your conversation with John goes as follows:

**\--carcinoGeneticist** **[CG]** **started pestering ectoBiologist [** **EB** **] at 10:47--**

**[10:47]** **CG: JOHN. I GOT SOME NEWS.**

**[10:49]** **EB: oh come on**

**[10:49]** **EB: I just woke up you asshole**

**[10:49]** **CG: IF THIS WASN’T POSSIBLY SERIOUS, I WOULDN’T HAVE EVEN BOTHERED FUCKNUTS**

**[10:50]** **EB: ok, fine**

**[10:50]** **EB: what do you need**

**[10:51]** **CG: WELL**

**[10:52]** **EB: what. spill already**

**[10:52]** **CG: DAVE STRIDER IS AT MY HOUSE**

**[10:52]** **CG: . . . AND HE’S KIND OF LAYING IN MY BED RIGHT NEXT TO ME.**

**[10:52]** **EB: wait what**

**[10:52]** **EB: the fuck**

**[10:52]** **EB: don’t you hate him or something?**

**[10:53]** **EB: or at least not like him???**

**[10:53]** **EB: more importantly**

**[10:53]** **EB: why the FUCK is he at your house?**

**[10:53]** **CG: FIRST. I DON’T HATE HIM**

**[10:53]** **CG: SECOND, NO NOT REALLY**

**[10:54]** **CG: AND THIRD**

**[10:54]** **CG: HE SHOULD TELL YOU HIMSELF, BUT IF NOT NOW, I MIGHT LATER.**

**[10:54]** **EB: so what do you want me to do**

**[10:54]** **EB: is he like a huge mess or in trouble**

**[10:55]** **CG: UH, KIND OF BOTH I THINK?**

**[10:55]** **CG: ANYWAY**

**[10:55]** **CG: I WANT YOU TO COME OVER AND TALK TO HIM**

**[10:56]** **CG: I HAVE NO IDEA HOW I FEEL ABOUT THE THINGS I’VE LEARNED IN LESS THAN TWENTY-FOUR HOURS**

**[10:56]** **EB: uh**

**[10:57]** **EB: so you learned somethings, about Dave?**

**[10:57]** **EB: has it changed somethings you think like about his whole hiding behind “stupid” sunglasses. You know I gave those to him for his birthday five years ago, right?**

**[10:57]** **CG: WELL YEAH.**

**[10:58]** **CG: IT’S KIND OF HARD FOR THEM NOT TO**

**[10:58]** **CG: ANYWAY COME OVER LATER SO I’M NOT ALONE WITH HIM**

**[10:58]** **EB: yeah, I will**

**[10:59]** **EB: don’t kill him in the mean time**

**[10:59]** **EB: he’s weird in the morning**

**\--carcinoGeneticist** **[CG]** **ceased pestering ectoBiologist [** **EB** **] at 10:47--**

You closed the chat and looked back at Dave. He was now turned to face you, still sleeping peacefully. Just how weird could he be in the morning, you think he couldn’t be any weirder than you were when Kankri was still here. It’s a funny thought that he would come up behind you while you were cooking and hug you. You don’t think you should entertain that idea.

                You move to the side of the bed, about to stand up. Right then two arms wrap around you and pull you back into the bed. You are far to stunned and way too tired to know how to react. You look back at Dave once again. His arms are wrapped around you in a tight grip. You laugh a little at that, feeling your heart warm, as well as your face.

                “Come on Dave, I got to make breakfast,” You sound a little crankier than you thought you were. You hope that he doesn’t pay too much attention to it.

                “No! I was so comfortable, and you ruined it,” His words are slurred from exhaustion. The loudest he was could be described as drumming on a desk  out of boredom.

                “Do you want pancakes or waffles?” You grabbed his hands and carefully pulled them off, doing your best to ignore that your face was probably warmer than it should.

                “Uh, waffles,” the S was so dragged out you almost thought he turned into a snake. You ended up getting past him and toward the door. Thank god for you being speedy, even in the morning.

                “Alright, if you wanna help me out you might wanna wake up in five minutes,” At that he sat up and rubbed his eyes. He looked kind of adorable if someone asked you.

                You tossed your shirt to the floor of the bedroom and headed to bathroom, taking care of the usual routine. Wash your face, pull your hair back because it’s kind of long and wild, and splash water on your face. This morning in particular, it was because you still couldn’t believe you took Dave to your house and that he slept in your bed, but you don’t want to think about that.

You looked in the mirror a little longer than usual for sure, spending lots of time critiquing how you look. The roots of your hair made you look kind of strange. Your dark skin didn’t look great with red hair, not to you. Though you did like the way it looked when your hair was pulled back . When you left it alone, it was just curly and wild. Your hair never cooperated.

You let your thoughts drift over to fantasies, the ones you would’ve had if you were in love. You wish you were and use your own romantic frustrations to help your friends. They always seemed to figure out how to use your shitty advise in some way. It was mostly shit and you know it. You’re fairly sure your friends know it as well.

On the thoughts of romance, you remember several people asking you about Dave or possible feelings for him. You specifically remember Terezi saying somethings about him. That’s what might have piqued your curiosity about him in sophomore year, you didn’t really notice him in freshman year at all. If you did, maybe you’d be friends by now.

“Hey, KitKat, you done yet?” Dave’s voice follows a few gentle knocks on the door, he still sounds half asleep. You wonder just how physically strong he is.

“Uh yeah, sorry just a sec,” You finish drying your face as you open the door for him. You want to avoid the awkwardness that is going to come and smack both of you in the face. You angle your neck to look at where his face is.

“Man, you weren’t kidding. That is- wow I should shut up so hard right now. Wait. What the fuck did I just say. Ignore everything that just left my mouth, I am, I am not fully awake yet,” You raise you eyebrows in that weird curious way you would when you were stumped by your friends.

“No, Dave it’s fine. I’ve seen and heard your secrets, it’s only fair you see mine,” You want to ignore the extremely cliché feeling you have in your gut right now.

“Are you sure, I mean I know a lot more about you now but… It’s weird for me?” You notice his hand sprinted up to his neck and – holy shit how the fuck did you not notice earlier wow. His binder really does an excellent job of hiding those things damn.

“Uh no it’s fine, we can talk about it over breakfast,” You avert your eyes as fast as you can before he notices. You are quite sure he did, god this is not going to end well for you, “I’ll just leave you to do whatever it is you do in a bathroom. I’llbeinthekitchenseeya.” _Oh fucking gog no._ That’s pretty much all your brain has to say on the matter.

You basically sprint the fuck out of there. You are almost positive he was watching you leave mostly because the door shut quickly about ten seconds after you left. You’re not ready for this bull shit today. You need a cover story for John, a way to tell Dave John’s coming over, and you need to get your mom to hospital because she’s been kind of quiet. You’re not complaining too much about that last one. She was, and you say this often, a huge bitch.

You make your way into the kitchen and smack your head down on the counter. It was what you considered medium loud, mostly because you tend to shout a lot when you aren’t dealing with people like Dave. Though you suppose you could make an effort to shout less. You’d probably have more friends if you did.

You lift your head up and manage to mutter out, “Why do I make things so complicated.”

“Make what things so complicated?” You heard Dave’s voice float from the end of the hallway.

“I was talking to myself,” You leave off dumbass because you aren’t sure if he would appreciate it. “Besides I said we’ll talk over breakfast.” You heard his phone ping and then a few minutes later yours went off. John was bugging you at an inconvenient time.

**\-- ectoBiologist [** **EB** **] started pestering carcinoGeneticist** **[CG]** **at 11:15—**

**[11:15]** **EB: Hey so I told Dave I asked you if I could come over yesterday during lunch or something**

**[11:16]** **EB: and he said cool and mentioned being at your place**

**[11:16]** **EB: But he’s  kind of avoiding a few things**

**[11:17]** **CG: A FEW THINGS LIKE WHAT**

**[11:17]** **EB: like how he got there or why for that matter.**

**[11:17]** **CG: I KIND OF FIGURED**

**[11:18]** **CG: I’LL TELL YOU LATER IF IT DOESN’T COME UP.**

**[11:18]** **CG: ALSO, CAN YOU TAKE CARE OF HIM WHILE I DEAL WITH MY MOM**

**[11:19]** **EB: yeah, I can do that. Ill be over at like 1:00 so see ya soon**

**\-- ectoBiologist [** **EB** **] ceased pestering carcinoGeneticist** **[CG]** **at 11:19—**

“Who’s pestering you?” Dave’s voice makes you look up.

“Just John reminding me when he’s gonna be here.” You take a second, “Shit I didn’t tell you.” You say it casually enough so that he might not suspect you of consorting with him while Dave was asleep.

“Nah man, it’s okay. He just told me,” He frowned for a second, “He said he remembered about going over here for something and canceling our plans.” He looked at the ground and laughed, letting a smile takeover.

“What?” You went about getting ready for making waffles while listening to him talk. He talked quite a bit about John and what good friends they were, things like that. He mentioned something about John helping him come out to one of their other friends that you’ve never met.

Before you knew it, the waffles were gone and 1:00 was just a few minutes away. You went over to your mom’s room while Dave was working on whatever homework he hadn’t finished during class. You saw she had rolled out of bed last night. You guess you might need to get to that hospital a little sooner than later. You’ll tell John when he gets here. Besides, you do have an appointment in an hour. What is it with all this convenient timing and shit?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, Dave meets KK's mom next chapter. I'm fairly curious about little tidbits I might need to add (probably more nagging idk). Dave has a brief moment of internal screaming because of Karkat being a bit of an idiot. Soon the Dave interrogation will begin, (that happens from Johns perspective, just a forewarning)
> 
> GOD IT'S THREE IN THE MORNING. I have never been this dedicated.


	6. "Karkat nooo" - Dave

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John arrives, Dave is mentally flipping his shit, and Karkat needs to sToP lOoKiNg ThErE

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm saying this right now, IM SORRY THAT TOOK ME SO lONG. I've been lacking motivation and have been king of struggling to do anything so hopefully I can get back up and work on this. That John chapter is coming up next for sure.

Dave's POV: 

Breakfast was just about ready when Karkat started talking again. The silence made you nervous anyway. You don’t know what it is about the constant noise around him, but for whatever reason, it’s kind of comforting to you. John being here will add to it, you just hope there’s not too much, otherwise you’ll probably flip a table full of shit. 

By the time you finished eating he had dragged you back to his room. He was rummaging through his stuff and eventually pulled out a sweater. You sat there kind of nervous the entire time, it was awfully strange for you to just watch him get something. 

“This is probably gonna fit you a lot better. This used to be Kankri’s. He was on the small side,” He nervously laughed as he walked over and set it down. 

“You know, you don’t have to go through all this trouble,” You said it kind of plainly. You didn’t want it to come off in any particular way. 

“I guess, but I want to help.” He moved toward the door swiftly, his scars were still out. You looked at each one for a second time in detail. His back was almost symmetrical. If it weren’t for the slight differences in length or positions, it’d be almost exactly the same on both sides. The ones going straight down his back were thick and long. 

“I, I guess I know that,” You turned and kind of dropped your back against the wall, letting yourself fall. 

“When your done, I wanna introduce you to my mom. She might as well meet you before I take her back for her appointment,” You pull the sweater off the bed into the little space between it and the wall. You didn’t pay much attention to it until now. It was red, and the sleeves were a little short, coming up to about the mid-section of your arms. 

“Uh, okay. Man how did he wear this?” You said as you walked over. It was sort of tight fitting and made you nervous to think about it. 

“I have no idea, so uh, do you wanna meet her?” His face looks like it’s going red, if only just a little. You wondered for about five seconds, and then realized. 

“Uh, yeah. I was kind of wondering when I would,” You went to rub your other arm. You felt your face warm up and wanted to cover it up. You kind of wanted to cover everything up. Karkat nooo, Karkat please no, don’t be doing the thing I think you’re doing, you thought to yourself. He turned around after watching you turn a bright red for probably ten seconds. Her room was right across the hall, so the walk was brief. Karkat knocked on the door a bit harder than you were expecting him too, causing you to jump a little. The door creaked open and Karkat stepped in first. 

“Hey momma. This is Dave, he’s probably gonna stay the weekend if I can convince him. Also, John’s coming over soon,” He moved over to the bed. His mom tried to sit up making him hurry over faster. She was a small woman with a round face. It looked very sickly even with her dark skin. You’d describe it as a milk chocolate type of color if she wasn’t. Her eyes were a light brown color, awfully close to hazel. 

“Nice to meet you. I’ve only ever seen Terezi or John here. Do you know them, Dave?” Her voice was on the shaky side, as well as quiet. 

“Uh, John is a good friend of mine, best friend if you will. Terezi is pretty close to me,” She seemed to consider my answer while also looking me up and down, “I think anyways, I have no actual idea.” 

She closed her eyes and laughed, “Well, I’m glad you got some friends, Karkat. Real friends,” She then sighed and gave him a glare, “You didn’t drag little Dave over there here without letting him get ready, did you Kat?” 

“Sorry momma, it was a bit of an emergency,” He cringed a little at the nickname, and looked back at you, “He needed help right away.” 

You looked him in the eyes and then to his mothers, “I didn’t exactly have a say in it at the time,” You broke in briefly, not knowing if you were going to make the situation bad. 

“Hahaha, he’s always been like that. Rushing in to help others whether they liked it or not. He was a good kid,” She smiled wide, in an approving way. “So Karkat. That appointment is coming up in-“ She was interrupted by a doorbell ringing. 

“That’d be John and he’s FIve MINUTES laTE.” Karkat shouted, what would probably be half volume for him, while his voice cracked lightly. You’ve heard him be much louder before, “GET YOUR ASS IN HERE DUMBFUCK.” The door opened and the sound of footsteps on tile echoed through the halls. 

“Well excuse you Karkat, I had to help clean up lunch,” He stopped in the doorway to observe everyone, you included, “That and Jade’s visiting for the next two days,” He ran his right hand through his chestnut brown hair, then crossed them across his chest. You hardly noticed you were watching him until that moment, so you looked back at Karkat, then stared perpetually at the wall. 

“Oh man FUCK. Did you really leave her at that house alone with your dad?” Karkat’s eyes went from his mom’s to John’s. 

“Nah, she’s sitting on the couch. Hope you don’t mind mama Vantas,” He looked down moving his eyes to watch you. You only know because you saw from your peripheral vision. 

“Well I don’t suppose I get you guys settled,” He looked to his mom and did this scowl, she just looked amused, “As well as get ready to take you to your appointment, I didn’t forget within ten minutes, mom.” 

Karkat stood up and signaled everyone to get out. You had pretty much already made it to the door by the time Karkat was half way there. His mom seemed to smile lightly and waved a goodbye. John slung his arm over your shoulder and walked you out to the living room, Karkat trailing behind the two of you. He was grumbling under his breath and at this point you were guessing it was a normal thing for him. 

You and John had some brief chatter, He suggested a few things he thought might have happened, but you politely said nothing like that. His mind certainly goes places that you don’t like. Especially under these circumstances. 

Upon arriving in the living room, you were greeted by a girl with shoulder length hair. She wore the same shirt as John, only in blue, it had this little ghost thing that resembled a much friendlier slimmer from Ghost Busters. You will forever think that movie is kind of stupid. Her hair was black and around shoulder length. 

“Hey, Jade,” John greeted his cousin brightly. 

“John! I’ve met Karkat, but I haven’t met this person!” She excitedly stood up, though she looked a little mad at him. He might have told her to put an act on since you haven’t actually seen Jade. You’ve talked to her plenty on PesterChum. 

“I’m Dave,” You said it pretty plainly, pretty much hoping that she didn’t pay attention to anything else about you except your voice. 

“Yeah, yeah, he’s the shiny new thing for several people, whoop-dee-fucking-do,” Karkat stated pretty sarcastically. 

“Karkat it’s not his fault,” John butted into Jade and Karkat’s staring contest and plopped onto the little chair beside the coffee table. 

“It’s his brothers fault that’s for fucking sure,” He mumbled under his breath while walking past you, you don’t think anyone except you heard it. 

“What was that Karkat?” Jade inquired with a piercing stare at him. She looked back at John, who shrugged up a storm. 

“It was nothing don’t worry about it. I had a long night, but I don’t really blame Dave.” He dropped his back against the wall near John’s current residency. His eyebrows knitted together while he stood there silently. 

“Did something bad happen?” Jade was likely farther out of the loop than John, if Karkat didn’t say anything to John. 

“Unless Dave is going to explain exactly what happened, I’d say yes,” He continued to perpetually stare into the void, “I’d only tell them what I saw, I swear Dave.” He shot you a glance when he said that very quietly, it was like a whisper across the room. 

“Karkat, if anything I’ll talk to John about it.” You shot him a long look that read calm, but also had scared undertones. 

“What about Rose?” John spoke up. 

“Rose probably knows already. She left me a lot of fucking messages” You dropped your gaze to the ground. 

“I got to get heading out. I’ll be back in an hour or two.” You watched as Karkat move fluidly through the house. His final stop was his mom’s room. He left with her in a span of six minutes, you were left with unsettling silence between you, John, and Jade.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter from John's perspective is going to be coming up in at least two days, most it'll be five days.
> 
> I hope you guys enjoy!


	7. This isn't an update, Sorry kiddos :(

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is a bit of an explanation for the long ass absence and some other things.

I am going to start with the good news.  
I'm finally back. I'm all moved into the new house and headed back in school. I've got a lot of stuff planned but not a lot of ways to work it out. My computer just got hooked up so I'm fiddling around and having a good time. 

and some bad news...  
I'm not going to update this fic until I finish writing it. I've lost some of the energy I had when I first started it, and it's gone into a new one that I absolutely adore. This one might end up coming out before The Need To Save is updated again. I'm going to have a lot of time gaps as I now have school going on and I also started seeking help. A lot of Dave is a reflection of how I feel, and Bro became the way I treat myself.

 

ANYWAY. I'm doing better now that I've got some help. My writing is definitely gonna be different. The Need To Save is going to go under HUGE changes while I'm working on it, so check back now and again. Some plotlines are going to change, especially the romance pieces. I'm gonna turn this into more of a slow-burn. There might be some smut, but no promises really. Since I see a lot of myself in cannon and my fanon Dave, I might end up feeling weird writing it. 

Well, later guys! See you in my next work.

PS: It's called Boys will Be Boys

 

PPS: I love you, Kiddos!

**Author's Note:**

> Yo, It's my first story/fanfic. I hope you guys enjoy!


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